Hastening to the Abyss

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About WodBera

Nerd in NC who loves freedom, RPG video games, Ancient Greek stuff, nature, puppies...and the occult and general weirdness. Just your typical redneck... || All voices should have the chance to be heard; the art is in discerning which to heed.

There are quite a few musical works that I enjoy that evoke that magnetically dark and “spooky” atmosphere that I love in works of art. I thought that, as we approach the quintessentially spooky holiday of Halloween, I would make a few posts about some of my favorite pieces of Halloween-appropriate music. This is number four in the short series.

In the early-90’s, after not playing video games for a few years, I bought a SNES game system and two games: Maria Brothers 3 and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I put many, many hours into each. I had already seen the Dracula movie on which the game was based at the movie theater with my sister and two friends (in 1992, I think); I didn’t enjoy the movie quite as much as my sister did but I was interested in playing the game based on it. It was a good game for its time and a little hard for me to finish. I recall that it was one of those games with limited lives and once they were gone, I had to start the game from the beginning. The music was one of the high points of the game and is eerie enough in many cases. Hearing this soundtrack, I can still picture every level that each piece of music accompanies.

There are quite a few musical works that I enjoy that evoke that magnetically dark and “spooky” atmosphere that I love in works of art. I thought that, as we approach the quintessentially spooky holiday of Halloween, I would make a few posts about some of my favorite pieces of Halloween-appropriate music. This is number three in the short series.

Nox Arcana have created a rather large number of albums, all with varying dark themes but all quite dramatic and impressive. Some of the albums tend to sound a bit similar to my ears, but they do a good job at making each themed album unique enough to stand out in some way from the others. Their newest, Season of the Witch, would make a particularly perfect soundtrack for any Halloween-themed endeavor:

And if you’d rather summon the Great Cthulhu, try their Necronomicon title, in particular the track, ‘Ritual of Summoning;’ ‘Ïa! Ïa! Cthulhu Fhtagn!’:

You can find Nox Arcana’s “Music for Creatures of the Night” and some sweet “Gothic Gear” on their website

There are quite a few musical works that I enjoy that evoke that magnetically dark and “spooky” atmosphere that I love in works of art. I thought that, as we approach the quintessentially spooky holiday of Halloween, I would make a few posts about some of my favorite pieces of Halloween-appropriate music.

I would call the works of Lustmord more atmospheric soundscapes than music in the traditional sense, but his works definitely have an eerie vibe and can kind of take you on a mental journey. Apparently, his live shows incorporating sound and sights can be quite transcendental. This video gives a short taste of his type of performance.

There are quite a few musical works that I enjoy that evoke that magnetically dark and “spooky” atmosphere that I love in works of art. I thought that, as we approach the quintessentially spooky holiday of Halloween, I would make a few posts about some of my favorite pieces of Halloween-appropriate music.

I’m starting with this gem of intense witchification, Hexerei im Zwielicht der Finsternis, by the group (solo artist?) Aghast. I don’t think that they/she ever did any other albums (if I’m wrong, please let me know), but this one would be at the very top of my all-time occult-sounding works. It’s creepy, eerie, “witchy,” and sublimely beautiful in a darkly fun way. Listen for yourself, and enjoy!

This is a photo that I took in the mid-1990’s, probably 1994 but maybe 1995, around 5pm in eastern North Carolina. These ominous-looking red clouds suddenly appeared and were rapidly rolling through the sky. It was one of the most impressive sky phenomena that I’ve ever seen, and just a little scary. As I didn’t have a video recorder at the time, a snapshot was the best I could do to record it.

For a bit of pareidolia, I see a large frontal face to the left of the limb, and another, milder-looking one in profile to its left.

Every day, it seems that people are confronted with some new or old boogeyman, either in the guise of a group or a grievance, that we are urged is a menace to us and needs to be suppressed and eradicated, even to the point of squashing basic civic rights. Never mind the fact that the fear-mongering is very lucrative to those who are brandishing it, and it comes from all sides. It has become so bad that I generally avoid what passes for news now, as it’s obvious that much of it is a play for mind-control and “rabble-rousing,” not to mention a means to remove hard-won liberties.

I read a quote from Serge Kahili King today that I think is very relevant to the current state of affairs in the U.S.A. and many other parts of the world:

The changing of the world will not be done by advertising, no matter how extensive or well-designed. It will not be done by excessively expensive projects and processes, nor by bigger and better weapons either actual or metaphorical. It will never be done by trying to heal abstract concepts that only represent people. It can only be done by healing individual people one at a time, or by helping them to heal themselves.

We as individuals alone have the power to take our own lives in hand and make ourselves into the best us that we can. We can do that best by taking care of ourselves and lending a helping hand to those who need us. We all have a common twin enemy — Destruction and Death — and we don’t need to give those beings a helping hand in any way; they need no help in their encroachment.

These are the illustrations for the children’s book, The Quest of the Hammer, from The Home Adventure Library (Volume 7): Great Stories From World Literature, written by Abbie Farwell Brown, compiled by Doris Heitkotter, illustrated by John Everds, copyright of The Southwestern Company, 1968.

For anyone who doesn’t know the story, Thor’s hammer Mjolnir gets stolen by a Giant named Thrym.

Thor discovers his missing Hammer

When Loki flies out and discovers the thief, Thrym states that he will only give back the hammer if the beautiful Freya will become his bride.

Loki sets out to discover the thief

Loki then persuades Thor that he should stand in for Freya and be the Giant’s “bride.”

Thor dresses as Freya — with serious misgivings

“Freya” surprises the wedding party by eating and drinking everyone else under the table. Of course, Thor and Loki end up slaying the Giants and get the hammer back (after getting their bellies full).

Thor surprises his bridegroom with his voracious appetite (at the dinner table only!)

Despondent in his failed quest to rescue his wife from Hades, Orpheus spurned human contact. This did not set well with some Dionysian Maenads, who tore him to pieces. His head washed up on the shores of Lesbos and prophesied to the people. This is a scan of a black-and-white image of an Attic red-figure vase depicting the bizarre event. The image is culled from Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry by Emily Vermeule (Sather Classical Lectures, Volume Forty-Six; University of California Press, 1979).

There is a better, in-color image of this vase painting at the unsurpassed Theoi site.

Be careful: Not all fairies are benign, ethereal sweeties. The Fairies, by 19th-Century Irish poet William Allingham, is a dark-themed children’s poem that includes the abduction (and eventual death) of a child. This artwork by Boris Artzybasheff adds to the creepiness. The poem and illustration were included in the Collier’s Junior Classics’ The Young Folks Shelf of Books, Volume 1 (“ABC GO!”; 1962) under the heading “Best-Loved Poems.” As a pre-schooler, I found the picture especially disturbing. It always comes to mind when I think I feel something scratchy in my bed at night.